1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hot strip mill for reducing metal strip products. More specifically, the present invention relates to a drive motor assembly for a coiler furnace of a hot strip mill.
2. Prior Art
Existing plate mills have been converted to coil plate facilities for rolling metal strip products by adding at least one coiler furnace on one side of a reversing mill. Typically, at least one coiler furnace is provided on the upstream side of the reversing mill and at least one coiler furnace is provided on the downstream side of the reversing mill. When converting a plate mill to a coil plate facility, each added coiler furnace is normally driven by a drive motor which is placed in the motor room of the rolling mill. A spindle shaft and gear drive extend between the motor and the mandrel, or coiling unit, of the coiler furnace. The difficulty exists in that the motor rooms in existing mills are not engineered to add additional drive motors without significant modification to the existing equipment and to the existing motor room. These extensive modifications result in prolonged shutdown of the mill during conversion, adding significant additional costs. Furthermore, the area surrounding the motor room may not easily accommodate the changes necessary such that a conventional retrofitting system would not be available for the mill.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks of the prior art. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drive motor assembly for a coiling unit for metal strip product which avoids the aforementioned difficulties in retrofitting existing plate mills. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a drive motor assembly for a coiling unit for metal strip products which minimizes conversion costs and shutdown of the mill during the conversion process of an existing mill.